{"id":356,"date":"2017-04-28T20:02:17","date_gmt":"2017-04-28T20:02:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.annawerner.de\/?p=356"},"modified":"2018-01-11T08:52:09","modified_gmt":"2018-01-11T08:52:09","slug":"update-breaks-wordpress-site","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/annaschneider.me\/blog\/update-breaks-wordpress-site\/","title":{"rendered":"What to do if an update breaks your WordPress site"},"content":{"rendered":"

Updates are important, if not to say mandatory. They make your site more secure, more compatible, more functional and durable. Nevertheless, they can also cause sites to break, usually caused by numerous different kinds of conflicts between old and new code<\/p>\n

If things break in your live website or WooCommerce store,\u00a0I hope you took that backup before and you use it now to roll back to the prior version. Then you start fixing the issues on a staging site. Here are some tips on where to look.<\/p>\n

Check in with others<\/h2>\n

If you are experiencing a problem after an update, chances are other users have the same one. So before going on a long hunt, it can always safe time and energy to just look into the theme and plugin documentation, change log and support forums. They may already be a fix or you can at least join the discussion.<\/p>\n

Re-save settings and correct shortcodes<\/h2>\n

If a plugin feature or some grid or slider doesn’t load properly after an update, you often only need to re-save all your options. Navigate to the plugins settings and click “Save Changes” or “Update”. This way, the database gets reconnected.
\nWhile you are in the settings pages, also make sure that all your options are still set the same way and for example images are still linked correctly. With some major plugin updates you do have to re-choose your options, with other re-saving does the trick.<\/p>\n

For plugins that use shortcode to integrate certain functionality, also check the shortcode in the documentation. They may have changed it to make it better in the long run. That means though that you need to update your codes as well.<\/p>\n

Clear all caching files<\/h2>\n

Display problems can also occur, when cached files interfere with new code and therefore with the loading of your site. Delete all cached files from your caching plugin – usually by logging into your Dashboard. Then also delete all cache from your browser. Then try viewing the site again and also check in incognito mode or a different browser.<\/p>\n

Debug the white screen of death<\/h2>\n

If your site breaks after the upgrades, you need to identify the php errors or the javascript conflicts between theme and plugins. To get everything back to running, you need to eliminate as many variables as possible and isolate the issue. A live site should be in maintenance mode during the process, but I recommend to always only use staging sites for this.<\/p>\n

1. Deactivate all plugins and your theme<\/strong><\/p>\n